妈妈的爱心﹣八珍汤

Yes, mum made me her version of 爱心八珍汤! This soup is a chinese herbal soup that can be cooked with meat (chicken or pork) or without meat.

The soup is something which I drink regularly as a teenager until I got married. I did not get to drink it as much because I no longer stay with the persons who cook this soup (my mum and my grandma/aunt)! Anyway it's because I am lazy because the soup is really easy to prepare.

About 3 months back, I cooked the soup and shared it with my mother-in-law. :) This round my mother cooked it for me. For some reason, hers' taste better and it could be because I used "black chicken" while she used the normal chicken.

For those who are wondering, this soup should be taken regularly (monthly) by girls if possible. The tonic soup will nourish the blood. It is known to reduce menstratual pains and keep cycles regular. Some fellow mothers say it's good for women trying to concieve as it "warms" the womb. Men can drink this soup but in small quantities... :)

Anyway it's quite easy to prepare. You can boil it for 2-3 hrs on stove or use a slow cooker. I do not like to keep watch on fire so I use a slow cooker.

Step 1: You can buy a pack of the herbs for the soup. I usually buy from Eu Yang Sang and wash them before use (thou EYS says no need to wash la).

Step 2: You can choose to buy meat (about 1 chicken chopped up or into halves) to make the soup. Just wash the meat then place them into the slow cooker. Place the herbs on the top of the meat and pour water to cover the herbs and meat (if any).

Step 3: Set the slow cooker on high for about 3 hrs and the soup should be done. My grandmother usually cooks the soup on stove for about 1-2hrs only. The soup is usually dark when it's done... :)

This is my mum's 爱心八珍汤 (one BIG BOWL!). Thank you mum (you're the best!).

Jacob Ballas Children Garden...

It's been such a long time since I blogged. I read in a parenthood magazine about stolen identities and how a blog exposes private life for everyone to see... So got a bit scared and took off the blog into a "private space". Nevertheless, without the blog, it seems I have stopped tracking the little one's growing up proccess... How could I do that?

It's been 3 months since the last blog. Recently, her school had an outing to Botanic Gardens - Jacob Ballas Children Garden. She had missed this little outing as she came down with fever and lack of appetite. Hubby and I decided to bring her there on a Sunday. The map of the garden can be found here (http://www.sbg.org.sg/bukittimahcore/images/map.jpg)

The Jacob Ballas Children Garden is a small cut out of the bigger Botanic Gardens. Abeit the lack of care in certain parts of the garden (such as the water plant section), it can be an educational place for the little ones to explore the different plants - the "Touch Me Nots", spices (such as Pandan, lemon grass, lime plants). The banana tree was flowering when we were there! :)

There are physical activities which kids can explore there! The sand playground (which we skipped as time was running out), waterplay area (small, we also skipped as we did not bring spare clothes or towels), tree playground (for active kids to climb around, features very long enclosed slides) and of course the suspension bridge!

Well here are some photos!

Little girl's toilet woes...

Mother in law was ill today so no dinner at her place. Left work to meet hubby and lil gal for japanese food at Meidi-ya. She was about 2/3 through her dinner when she suddenly pulled up her shirt and started digging at her belly button. Initially we ignored her but with her food still in her mouth she said "痛痛！". I looked at her and she pointed to her tummy. Hubby who had finished his dinner brought her to the toilet after she nodded when asked if she wanted to poo.

5 minutes later, hb emerged with her. She took another mouth of food and started to dig at her belly button. Once again she nodded when asked if she wanted to poo. I brought her to the female toilet, sat her down. Less than 1 minute later, she happily told me "没有了！".

I frowned and brought her back. On the way back to dinner table, she started to clutch her tummy again and this time began to whine... She began to protest, refusing the food, whining very loudly with tears in her eyes and clutching her little tummy and digging at her (getting red) belly button... She also clinged onto papa and refused to let papa put her down.

It was the first time she had reacted so strongly to her discomfort so we decided to head for PD. PD checked her through and found her tummy to be soft (ie not constipated). She still prescribed wind med and depositories to standby.

15 minutes after entering the house, she squatted in the bathroom with the "teh-sai" look. Eventually, she poo-ed happily seating on her baby toilet seat.

Hb and I are on one hand glad that her tummy discomfort was just the normal tummy ache and yet a bit sian to spend $70 for nothing. But both of us are left wondering if she is whining in a bid to get us to rush home so she can sit on her baby toilet seat!!! -_-"

At 25 months plus.... I can???

The little girl has started playgroup in Feburary this year. The proccess of her integrating into childcare was (in the eyes of the teachers) very smooth and fast. In part, I have my mother-in-law to thank. As the little girl's caretaker, she has done a good job in exposing my girl to the school environment (my niece was in kindergarten). Other than her separation anxiety (with her grandma - yes she loves grandma and grandpa to bits), she only cried less than 3 times and each episode is mild.

School's been pretty good as she starts talking in fuller sentences and even learning some mandarin grammar like "已经". My mother-in-law was especially suprised when she sprouted "哥哥已经回来了." as opposed to "哥哥回来了". The school is also teaching them how to undress on their own. She can now remove her own shorts and shoes. For the first time, I saw her wearing shoes on her own. Really happy with her well she is progressing. :)

Just thought I'll blog about some of the cutest/quirky bedtime habits she has ( sometimes I dunno if I should be angry or to let her be):
1. Insist that she be read "bedtime with baby bop" before going to zzzz. U can imagine how frequent I read cos I can recite the book to hubby at IKEA.

2. Will insist on bringing what she claims is "baby 的＂to bed. Insist the item (including her watch n random small boxes) is lovingly put next to her - “跟baby一起睡”.

3. Babbles loudly before falling asleep. Her babble could b an imaginary phone call to someone or random ramblings (in tonight's session she babbles: 爷爷抱。爷爷出去买东西。妈妈出去买东西回来。爷爷抱。去爷爷家ok?) or some comment about what she wants to do tomorrow (妈妈，明天mickey playhouse ok?)

Stacko Queen?

It's December and papa does not need to go to work early. Hence the little one has a little more time to spend at home. I can confirm that we do not have as much toys as my mother-in-law's hence she decided to improvise...

As papa says "I am the Queen of Stacko!!!" 8 cans of softdrinks!

Let me build another softdrink can tower! : )

Seven cans so far...

Eight! Just nice!!!

I am 2 years old!!!

The little girl is finally 2 years old! A bundle of energy and wit, a curious little tot who is well loved by all close to her...


Papa and Mama decided to throw her a little birthday party at Beng Hiang Restaurant. It's a cosy restaurant that serves pretty good and reasonably priced Hokkien cuisine. When you celebrate a birthday there, the restaurant will play a "birthday" song (both in English and Chinese) that can be heard by all the diners there.


Here are some pictures to commemorate the special day. :)

* Cheeky smiles all around! 

The Swensens Mickey Mouse Cake 

(This cake has a long story behind it. On the Thursday before the celebration, I went down to Earle Swensens @ Vivo and was told I could not order a cake as they needed 3 working days (which excludes Saturday). Made a mental note that the outlet had the above design but KIVed to reserve it as I hoped the outlet at Bishan would have the same. The Bishan outlet only had xmas log cakes so I quickly called Vivo Earle Swensens to book the cake (above design) for collection on Friday evening - the manager said the cake was available and would place the reservation for me. Was so busy on Friday evening I could not go to collect the cake, tried calling them for close to 10 times and only got the fax tone. On Saturday morning, called the Vivo outlet and was on the phone for almost 5 minutes because the girl could not understand what I was trying to ask her and she took another 3 minutes to take down my phone number. She claims that their phone a bit spoilt!?!! Finally the manager of Vivo Earle Swensens called me back and the earth shattering news: There was no cake reserved under my name and the cake I reserved was not in the fridge already! He offered for me to buy the last Mickey cake and only admitted that the cake's icing was warped after I asked him about it (I already noticed it during my visit on Thurs). He was apologetic and asked me to try the Swensens outlet at Nex. So poor me, ran to the outlet at Ion but did not see any Mickey cakes. Called Nex and placed a booking. Took a train down to that mad house shopping centre to get the cake. Luckily, the little gal loved the cake and so did everyone who was there... On a serious note, I am really disgusted by this whole experience.)

Had a seriously hard time trying to keep her hands off the cake! -__-"

Birthday Girl with Birthday Uncle! 
(PS: The little girl was perhaps feeling a little "paiseh" because the diners next door was singing the "happy birthday" song too! She blew out the two candles on her own too! Well done! :p )

The family (Erhmm... papa anxiously staring at the cake?) 

The two "shou xin gong"s cute the cake together... 

Eyes on the cake! (PS: Mama not so evil to get a cake she can't eat. Haha!)

Evidence: Ah ma feeding her with the cake! Yummy!

What's been up these days?

Coming close to 24 months, the little bundle has changed so much! Becoming more outspoken, she tries to converse with the adults in sentences! Although sometimes we cannot figure what she is trying to say, it's still cute. She also loves saying "hello" to kids about her age.
The witty little girl was quick to learn that adding the word "please" to her requests would gain her faster access to what she wants. And I am quite pleased that she can actually recognise the faces that she does not see on a very regular basis...

Here are some photos of what she has been up to these days...

Say "CHEERS!!!!"

Happiest with Papa!

 Little gal: Let me count... I have... 1...2...3...4...5!!!!

@ Clarke Quay with mama...

Happy walking @ Riverside!

Splashing FUN!!!



Opps... caught tasting water!!!

 Splashing good time @ JOM Clubhouse!

A little update...

The little one is finally off the pacifier during her 19th month! *double applause*

It took about 2 weeks for her to get used to the days without the pacifier... It all started because hubby and I decided to pop by at my grandma's with her. I was ill-prepared and forgot to bring the pacifier along for her lunch nap. She managed to fall asleep after I told her that "Mama, forgot to bring it along". That following night she managed to fall asleep with the pacifier as well.

She started wailing during the lunch nap the next day! Evil mama decided to snip the pacifier and give the remaining to her. Without the teat portion, the pacifier was really nothing much to suck on. So she stared at the pacifier and cried "Tu-tu!!!"... Well after that the worse was over. Her night wakings also stopped unless she is over-stimulated in the day... :)

This is the 2nd and last attempt for her to quit the pacifier. My guess is the last time I tried to let her quit, she was still teething and that made it difficult for her to survive without her comfort object - pacifier...